Question

It has rained on Court street and created extremely large puddles. To

avoid messing up your shoes, you must walk 34 meters south and 41
meters east, to the nearest meter, how many meters would be saved if it
were possible to walk through the puddle?*

Answer 1

• 22m

Step-by-step explanation:

Since South direction and East direction are perpendicular, you can form a right triangle with the distances walked.

Each distance is a leg of the right triangle and the direct distance in a straight line that passes through the puddle is the hypotenuse of the triangle.

Then, you can apply the Pythagorean theorem:

• c² = a² + b²

• c² = (34m)² + (41m)² = 1,156m² + 1,681m² = 2,837m²

• 
  `c=√(2,837m^2)\approx53m`

The number of meters saved if it were possilbe to walk through the puddle, would be the difference between the number of meters walked and 53 m:

• 34m + 41m - 53m = 22m ← answer